New thematic report “Delivering” within the framework of the URBACT project “Sustainable Food in Urban Communities” explores ways to distribute, share and procure local food inside the city. There are considered more sustainable and less carbon intensive delivery systems giving efficient opportunities to local production, enabling direct links between supply and demand for sustainable food, facilitating the transition of existing distribution market actors towards greater sustainability and lower carbon intensity, stimulating the emergence of new ones (e.g. food businesses, retail, etc.) and other local initiatives (e.g. markets, purchasing groups, network s, transparency in food chain, etc.)
Picture above : Central Market, Riga Latvia by To Uncertainty And Beyond, on Flickr)

Three Cross-Cutting Issues

Three cross-cutting issues are addressed:

Governance, synergies & local system: how can we multiple promising food delivering practices, develop synergies, increase resilience and generate the vision of a coherent local food system.

Social Inclusion, jobs & economics: how can we leverage on sustainable food transition to reduce food poverty, foster (re)engagement with food, support inclusion of marginalised and underprivileged population groups and enhance cohesion between communities. How can we consolidate promising food practices, transform them into sustainable businesses and upscale sustainable food initiatives to reach a larger share of the population.

CO2 & resource efficiency: how can we check and improve promising food practices in order to reduce emissions and impact on resources and energy.

RUSSELS – The European Commission on Wednesday (22 January) proposed new greenhouse gas targets which it said would see the EU remain the global leader on climate change action, without damaging the bloc’s fragile economy.

Under the proposals, the EU would curb its CO2 emissions by 40 percent – compared to 1990 levels – by 2030 and obtain “at least” 27 percent of its energy from renewable sources by the same year.

Both figures were disputed until the last minute.

The greatest tussle was over renewable energy sources. As part of the overall deal, the commission abandoned the current system of national targets – which it said led to fragmentation of the internal market – in favour of an overall binding EU goal.

Member states will be free to decide how they contribute to the 2030 renewable energy target, with a new “governance system” to be established to make sure countries do their bit.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the proposals are both “ambitious and affordable” and go “beyond the debate” of either being green or supporting the industry.

Now that the Earth has reached the limits of its biophysical carrying capacity, we have to change technologies, social practices and social norms relating to material production and consumption to ensure that we do not further jeopardize the functioning of our planet’s life support systems.
Through research, education and civic engagement, universities have a pivotal role to play in this transition. This timely book explores how universities are establishing living laboratories for sustainable development, and examines the communication networks and knowledge infrastructures that underpin impact both on and beyond the campus.
The expert contributors present case studies of living laboratories being built in leading universities across four continents. Focussing on social learning processes to drive societal change for sustainable development, this book will prove an invaluable read for academics, researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of higher education, regional and urban studies, public policy and the environment, and development studies.